Trimming machine



May 4, 1943. w. T. B. ROBERTS TRIMMING MACHINE Filed Dec. 22, 1941 7 Sheets-Sheet l May 4, 1943. w. T. B. ROBERTS TRIMMING MACHINE Filed Dec. 22, 1941 '7 Sheets-sheaf. 2

May 4, 1943.

w. 'r. s. ROBERTS TRIMMING MACHINE Filed Dec. 22, 1941 7 Sheets-Sheet May 4, 1943.

W-FT. B. ROBERTS TRIMMING MACHINE Filed Dec. 22, 1941 7 Sheets-Sheet 4 [/WEA/TUR May 4, 1943. w. T. B'. ROBERTS TRIMMING MACHINE Filed DEC. 22, 1941 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 y 4, 1943- w. T. a. ROBERTS 2,318,099

TRIMMING MACHINE Filed Dec. 22, 1 941 '7 Sheets-Sheet 6 y 1943- w; 'r. a. ROBERTS 2,318,099

TRIMMING MACHINE Filed Dec. 22, 1941 7 Sheets-Sheet 'r Patented May 4, 1943 iJlTED STATES TRIMMING MACHINE William Thomas Buckin England, assignor to Corporation, Flemingt New Jersey gham Roberts, Leicester,

United Shoe Machinery on, N. J., a, corporation of Application December 22, 1941, Serial No. 423,894 In Great Britain January 23, 1941 5 Claims.

This invention relates to trimming machines of the type illustrated and described in United States Letters Patent No. 2,260,483, granted October 28, 1941, on an application filed in my name. The purpose of such a machine is to sever surplus materials from the lasting margin of the upper and the lining of a partially fabricated McKay shoe on a last, particularly at the toe end and at the sides of the forepart adjacent to the toe end.

For the purpose above stated the machine is provided with a cutting head having a U-shaped recess to receive the toe end of a shoe, and with power-operated trimming means including a knife that lies initially over the ball portion of a shoe and travels lengthwise of the shoe away from the heel end thereof and across the cutting bed on which the materials to be trimmed lie outspread. The organization illustrated in the aforesaid patent also includes a. pair of spreading members operated automatically to travel ahead of the knife and in the same general direction to turn out the margin of the upper and the lining at the toe and lay it on the cutting bed in readiness for the trimming operation.

When the machine, organized as aforesaid, is used to operate on a boot having an extremely thick upper, for example, a military boot, one pair of spreading members arranged to turn out the margin at the toe end is not also capable of V turning it out at points adjacent to the tip-line, particularly if the shoe has been previously side lasted, because the lasting margin at the sides is secured to the insole by lasting tacks, two of which are adjacent to the tip-line. Since extremely thick upper leather can be creased only by direct application of a powerful force, and since the aforesaid spreading members are arranged to perform their spreading function at the toe end of a shoe, the portions of the lasting margin that extend from these spreading members to the nearest lasting tacks stand nearly if not quite erect instead of being folded and creased in the region of the tip-line. Under these conditions the erected portions may project into the path of the trimming knife, only to be cut ofi and leave too little material in the lastin margins at those points.

To avoid the result last pointed out, the present invention provides a power-operated mechanism including a pair of secondary spreading members arranged to turn out the side lasting margins abruptly in the region of the tip-line and press them against the insole with sufiicient force to crease them and maintain them entirely r out of the path of the trimming knife.

The secondary spreading members supplement the spreading effect of the spreading members that operate on the toe portion of the lasting margin, and in the organization hereinafter described the pair for the toe act first and the pair for the sides act immediately thereafter.

Referring to the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a right side elevation of a trimming machine embodying the present invention. In this view the outlines of former elements are represented by dot-and-dash lines;

Fig. 2 is a similar elevation on a larger scale of that portion of the machine in which the secondary spreading mechanism is concentrated;

Fig. 2A is a sectional view of a portion of a shoe located in the machine in readiness for the operation to be performed;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section, viewed as in Figs. 1 and 2, of the mechanism for operating the primary spreading members; I

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the upper spreading assemblage;

Fig. 5 is a cross-section indicated by line V-V in Fig. 2. This view includes the secondary spreading members and the knife-carriage assemblage;

Fig. 6 is a vertical section (see line VIVI in Fig. 5) of a connection by which one of the secondary spreading members is shifted from, and returned to, the path of the trimming knife;

Fig. '7 is a rear elevation of the cam assemblage for operating the secondary spreading members;

Fig. 8 is a cross-section (see line VIIIVIII in Fig. 7) of a cam coupling;

Fig. 9 is a top plan view including the forepart of a shoe in dotted lines and thecutting bed assemblage partly in section; and

Fig. 10 is a top plan view of the forepart of the shoe after the lasting margin thereof has been spread around the toe and creased adjacent to the foremost side-lasting tacks.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 5, a fiat disk knife It) having a circular cutting edge nearly five inches in diameter is aifixed to a carrier I I that travels in a straight line from the front toward the rear of the machine to perform the trimming operation and returns to its initial position near the front before the machine comes to rest. Grooved runners l2 aflixed to the carrier are arranged to slide on track members I3 afiixed to the frame M of the machine. Power operated mechanism for reciprocating the carrier II comprises a pair of links IS, a lever [6, an ec'centric 'strap ll, an eccentric l8, and a cam shaft I9 to which the eccentric is affixed. The lever I5 is mounted on a fulcrum rod 24. A continuously rotating pulley 29 that constitutes the driving member of a clutch is mounted on a power shaft 2! and is rotatable relatively thereto when the clutch is disengaged but the driven member of the clutch, concealed behind the pulley, as viewed in Fig. 1, is affixed to the shaft. Rotation of the shaft 21 is communicated to the cam shaft [9 by spur gears 22 and 23. All the parts are represented in their initial position in this figure.

The operating stroke of the knife It] carries it part way across, but not entirely across, a stationary cutting bed indicated at 25 in Fig. l. The construction of the cutting bed is better illustrated in Figs. 3 and 9. As shown in Fig. 9 the bed comprises two blocks 26 connected by a hinge pin 21 and mortised one into the other to provide, in effect, an uninterrupted U-shaped work-supporting surface and a correspondingly shaped recess to receive the toe end of a shoe represented in dotted lines. The outer U-shaped boundary of the blocks 26 is embraced by a thin' flexible strip 28 of steel, the upper edge of which lies in the plane of the knife 16 to provide a shearing element across which the cutting edge of the knife may travel to sever all surplus material that may lie on or project beyond the strip. The blocks 26 are secured respectively to bolster blocks 29 by screws 36. Referring to Fig. 3, the blocks 29 are seated on a flat plate 3| and the latter is seated upon and affixed to a portion of the frame l4. A retaining plate 32 seated on the blocks 29 isconnected to the plate 3! by screws 33, but bushings 34 are interposed between the plates 3| and 32 to prevent clamping the blocks 29 when the screws are set up tightly. It is, therefore, possible to adjust the blocks 29 and 26 with angular movement about the axis of the hinge pin 21 for the purpose of regulating the width of the U-shaped recess in accordance with the width of the toe portion of a shoe.

The means shown in Fig. 9 for adjusting the sections of the cutting bed comprise a hand wheel 35, a stem 36, bevel gears 31 and 38, a screwshaft having a right-hand thread 39 and a lefthand thread 40 and correspondingly threaded nuts 4| and 42. These nuts are of external cylindrical form and are nested in correspondingly shaped sockets formed in the blocks 29 in which they may turn slightly with regard to the angular movements of the blocks. The stem 36 has a bearing in a boss 43 formed on one of the blocks 29. A thrust collar 44 aflixed to the stem 36 is provided with a series of grooves or depressions 45 any one of which may be brought into register with a spring follower 46 arranged in a socket in the boss 43. The follower and the depressions 45 serve to retain the sections of the cutting bed in different positions of adjustment without preventing changes of adjustment when moderate force is used to turn the hand wheel 35.

The forepart of a side-lasted shoe of the McKay type is represented in Figs. 5 and 9. The last 50 is provided, as usual, with a bottom plate 5! of steel to clench the lasting tacks driven through the lasting margins of the upper 52, the lining 53 and the insole 54. As shown in Fig. 9 the lasting margins have been secured to the insole along both sides of the forepart by tacks 55 of which those nearest the toe end of the shoe are adjacent to the tip-line thereof. The toe tack usually driven in the middle during the pullingover operation should be pulled out before the shoe is placed in the recess of the cutting bed because the trimming operation hereinafter described requires turning out the lasting margin of the upper and the lining and spreading it on the cutting bed prior to the severing operation to be performed by the knife l0.

As in former machines of this general type, the machine represented in this application is provided with means for locating a shoe in the desired position and for holding' it firmly against first depress a treadle, not shown, by which a forepart jack will be raised to support the toe end of the shoe in the desired relation to the path of the'knife l6. As shown in Fig. 5, the forepart jack comprises a roll 51 and a post 58 by which it is carried, the post being also indicated in Fig. 1 and guided by a stationary bracket 59 through which it may slide. When the forepart is thus jacked its bottom is located by stationary gauges, one of which is indicated at 60 in Fig. 5.

Referring to Fig. 1, a heel-engaging member 62 is formed and operated as in former machines to exert pressure lengthwise of the shoe for the purpose of maintaining the toe end against the blocks 26 of the cutting bed with considerable force. Since the mechanism for operating the clamping member 62 is like the corresponding mechanism illustrated and described in the patent mentioned above, it will presumably suflice for present purposes to state that when a hand lever 63 is raised, the first effect thereof is to move the clamping member 62 in a direction to apply clamping pressure to the shoe, and that further upward movement of the hand lever, after the clamping member 62 has been arrested by the shoe, will trip the clutch comprising the driving member 20. In this manner automatic operation of the several mechanisms hereinafter described and including that of the knife I6 is initiated to produce a complete cycle, at the conclusion of which the several mechanisms are arrested in their initial positions.

Referring to Fig. 3, one of the cams carried by the shaft l9 operates a pair of primary spreading members 64 with to-and-fro movements lengthwise of the shoe, as in former machines of this type. The cam 65 for this purpose engages a. cam roll 66 carried by a lever 61. The lower end of the lever is mounted on a fulcrum rod 66 (Fig. 1) and the upper end thereof is connected with a slidable carriage 69 by a link 10. The primary function of the spreading members 64 is to bend out the lasting margin of the upper 52 and. the lining 53 from the point of the toe with movement away from the heel end of the shoe, but these spreading members are mounted on pivot pins H (Fig. 4) about which they may swing away from each other to bend opposite portions of the lasting margin away from the sides of the toe portion. For the latter purpose, the shaft 19 is provided with a cam 12. The members 64 are connected to the carriage 69 (Fig. 3) by a block 13 which receives a slight movement up and down as in former machines of this type. For the purpose of moving the members 64 toward and from each other they are connected by individual rods 14 with a bell crank lever 1'5 (Figs. 3 and 4) the fulcrum 16 of which is carried by the carriage 69. A roll 11 carried by the lever 15 is arranged to travel to and fro on an arm 18 that receives up-and-down movements from the cam 12. A roll 19 carried by the arm E8 bears on the perimeter of the cam. The fulcrum 86 of the arm 18 is stationary. A compression spring 8| exerts its force against the lever 15 to close the spreading members 64 when the arm 18 descends.

The various motions of the spreading member 64, described in detail in a former disclosure, are as follows: these spreading members stand initially in the positions. shown in Figs. 3 and 4, about midway between their limits of travel lengthwise of the shoe and raised far enough to clear the upstanding lasting margin at the toe end of a shoe that has been jacked and secured in the desired position for operation of the machine. In the course of a cycle they first move toward the heel end of a shoe far enough to overhang the forepart; they swing toward each other about their pivot pins II; they descend into engagement with the insole; they are shifted away from the heel end far enough to bend out the lasting margin from the toe end and lay it over the corresponding area of the cutting bed; they are separated with movement about their pivot pins II to bend out portions of the lasting margin widthwise from the sides of the toe portion; they are depressed against the cutting bed to compact the outspread portions of the margin; they are immediately raised far enough to clear the portions of the outspread margin that may overlie the flexible steel strip 28; they move again away from the heel end to clear the path of the knife I; and they finally return to their initial positions.

If the vamp of the shoe is particularly thick and therefore highly resistant to bending, the portions X of the lasting margin (Figs. 5 and 9) between the primary spreading members 64 and the foremost lasting tacks 55 will stand up from the insole and might, in the absence of being bent out and down adjacent to those tacks, be cut by the knife I 0 and leaves less than the desired width of lasting margin for the subsequent toe-lasting operation. guard against such cutting, the present invention provides the supplemental margin-spreading mechanism now to be described.

This mechanism comprises a pair of secondary spreading members 85 (Figs. 4, 5 and 6) each provided with a serrated block 86 that constitutes a claw. Considering Fig. 5, the members 85 are initialily raised and in close relation one to the other but spaced apart far enough to clear the insole gauge 50. Their first movement is downward under the influence of springs by which they are pressed against the insole. When this contact has been established they are moved apart, still in contact with the insole, and their claw portions 86 are thus brought into engagement with the portions X of the lasting margin that extend from the foremost lasting tacks 55 to the tips (now separated) of the primary spreading members 64. These portions X of the margin, whether previously erected or not, will be bent outwardly, creased and pressed down by the claw members 86 which will ride over them and depress them below the path of the knife before the latter has advanced for enough to do any cutting.

Still referring to Figs 4 and 5 the outer ends of the members 35 are connected to individual arms 8'! by pivot pins 88. The arms 8'! are initially drawn toward each other by a tension spring 89 connecting them. Their rear ends are mounted on pivot pins 98 that extend through rockers 9| arranged in alined bearings in blocks 92 secured to the frame I4. The rockers 9! provide for movements up and down of the arms 8'! while the pivot pins 96 toward and from each other. Each rocker 94 includes a portion 93 (Fig. 2) that underlies and engages a lug 94 formed on the corresponding arm 87 for the purpose of lifting the arm against the tension of a spring 95.

Therefore, to

provide for movements Each rocker also 'tance from a includes a portion 96 in which a hemispherical socket is formed for the reception of one end of an operating pin or strut 91. Both ends of each pin 91 are hemispherical and the upper end of each is seated in a hemispherical socket formed in a screw 98. These parts provide. universal joint connections for communicating downward movement to the portions 95 from a double operating lever 99 in which the screws 98 are secured. The lever 99 is in the form of a yoke and is arranged to rock on a stationary rod or fulcrum pin I68. An arm IllI of the lever 99 carries a roll I02 that cooperates with a cam I03. This mechanism produces up-anddown movements of the claw members 86.

The mechanism for moving the claw members away from each other in opposition to the spring 89 is derived from a cam I94 that cooperates with a roll 565 carried by an arm I96. This arm is a part of a double lever It? in the form of a yoke that straddles the lever 99, and both are mounted on the same fulcrum pin I99. Links I09 (Fig. 4) provide individual connections between the lever It! and the arms 87. The connections between the links and the arms are provided by swivel studs HI and those between the links and the lever iii! are provided by swivel studs III. Referring to Fig. 2, when the arm IE6 is raised by its cam I 14, the arms 8'! are operated to draw the secondary spreading members 85 away from each other in opposition to the force of the spring 89. This secondary spreading occurs immediately after the primary spreading members 84 have been separated to start the sidewise spreading of the lasting margin.

The cams for operating the spreading niembers 85 (Fig. 2) derive their rotation from the cam shaft I9 through a train of connections comprising helical gears II2' and H3, an upright shaft lid, and helical gears H5 and H6. Referring to Fig. 7, the helical gear IE5 and the cams Iihi and Hi3 are arranged in end-to-end relation on a horizontal spindle I i1 and they may rotate without driving the spindle. A tongueand -groove coupling H8 serves to transmit rotation from the gear H6 to the cam HM. As shown in Fig. 8, a driving segment N9 of the hub of the cam I64 normally engages a driven segment I of the hub of the cam I83 while a connecting spring I23 maintains a gap i2 I between these segments. Nevertheless, at one stage in their cycle of rotation, that is, when the roll I02 drops from the high portion of the cam I53 into an abrupt recess I22 (Fig. 2) this roll causes the earn. I93 to run ahead of the cam I04 to the extent aiforded by the gap I21. The purpose of this momentary acceleration of the cam 493 is to gain a little time in which the claw members 88 may operate after the primary spreading members 64 have opened but before the knife Ill has advanced far enough to cut the lasting margin. Once the cam I93 has been thrown ahead by the roll I82 it pauses momentarily while the leading edge of the segment H9 regains its driving engagement with the segment 128 as shown in Fig. 8.

Referring to Figs. 4, 5, and 6, the to-and-fro movements of the knife carrier iI swing the spreading members 85 about their pivots. For this purpose a thin curved strip I26 or" steel is fastened to a supporting strip IZI secured to the carrier II. The strip I26 is spaced 9. short discurved series of Work-pressing members I28 also carried by the carrier II. The curved channel between the members I28 and the strip I26 is occupied by upstanding lugs I "formed on the claw members 86, but these lugs are loosely confined in the channel and may travel lengthwise thereof. When the knife is traveling toward the cutting bed and the claw members 85 are being separated to bend out and press down the portions X of the lasting margin, the pressing members i23 engage the lugs I25 and thus swing the members 85 about their pivot pins 88. The cutting edge of the knife is thus protected from contact with the claw members 86. When the knife travels in the reverse direction, after completing its cutting stroke, the thin strip I26 engages the lugs I25 to swing the members 85 to their initial positions. These sliding connections betwen the knife carrier and the claw members enable the latter to operate in close relation to the cutting edge of the knife without being actually engaged thereby.

Referring to Fig. 1, and recalling that the knife I is reciprocated by the eccentric l8, the initial position of the eccentric is such as to provide an interval of time for the margin-spreading movements, first of the primary spreading members 64 and thereafter of the secondary spreading members 85, before the knife is advanced to the extremities of the cutting bed 25. It was mentioned in the description of the motions of the primaryspreading members 6-: that they pause momentarily over the cutting bed after they have been separated to produce the primary sidewise spreading of the lasting margin and that during this pause they are depressed to compact the outspread margin against the cutting bed. It is during this momentary pause and the compacting operation that the secondary spreading members drop into engagement with the insole and then move apart to complete the sidewise spreading of the lasting margin.

claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A trimming machine comprising a cutting bed having a U-shaped recess to receive the toe end of a partially fabricated shoe on a last, means arranged to support a shoe in cooperative relation to said cutting bed, power-operated mechanism including work-engaging means movable away from the heel end of the shoe and across said cutting bed to spread the toe margin of the shoe upper on said bed, power-operated mechanism including a pair of supplemental spreading members movable away from each other width- Wise of the shoe in paths adjacent to the insole and near the tip-line thereof to fold out the side lasting margins of the lining and the upper, and

power-operated cutting mechanism arranged to sever surplus materials from the outspread portions of the lining and the upper lying on said cutting bed.

2. A trimming machine comprising a cutting bed having a U-shaped recess to receive the toe end of a partially fabricated shoe on a last, means arranged to support a shoe in cooperative relation to said cutting bed, power-operated mechanism including work-engaging means movable away from the heel end of the shoe and across said cutting bed to spread the toe margin of the shoe upper on said bed, a pair of members arranged to bear on the insole adjacent to the tipline, resilient means by which said members are pressed against the insole, power-operated mechanism by Which said members are moved away from each other widthwise of the shoe to fold out the side lasting margins of the lining and the upper, and power-operated mechanism ar-; ranged to sever surplusmaterials from the out: spread portions of the lining and the upper lying on said cutting bed.

3. A trimming machine comprising a cutting bed having a U-shaped recess to receive the toe end of a partially fabricated shoe on a, last,

means arranged to support a shoe in cooperative relation to said cutting bed, power-operated mechanism including work-engaging means IIlOV'. able away from the heel end of the shoe and across said cutting bed to-spread the toe margin of the shoe upper on said bed, a pair of claws arranged to engage the side lasting margins of the upper and the lining adjacent to the tip-line, a pair of carriers by which said claws are supported and to which they are connected by pivots extending heightwise of the shoe, resilient means by which said claws are pressed against the insole between said lasting margins, power-operated mechanism by which said carriers are movedto carry said claws away from each other widthwise of the shoe and thereby bend said lasting margins outwardly, power-operated mechanism including a knife and a knife-carrier movable away from the heel end of the shoe and across said cutting bed to sever surplus materials of the upper and the lining lying'thereon, and

means connecting said knife-carrier and each of said claws individually to swing the latter about said pivots and thereby clear them from the path of the knife during the cutting stroke of the latter and return them to that path during the return stroke of the knife.

4. A trimming machine comprising a cutting bed having a U-shaped recess to receive the toe end of a partially fabricated shoe on a last, means arranged to support a shoe in cooperative relation to said cutting bed, a pair of primary spreading members arranged to turn out the toe margin of the upper and the lining and lay it on said cutting bed, a pair of secondary spreading menrbers arranged to turn out the side margins of bed.

5. A trimming machine comprising a cutting bed having a U-shaped recess to receive the toe end of a shoe on a last, means arranged to secure a side-lasted shoe in cooperative relation to said cutting bed, power-operated mechanism including work-engaging means movable to bend the toe margin of the upper and the lining away from the heelend of the shoe and lay it on said cutting bed, power-operated mechanism including work-engaging means movable to fold out and crease those portions of the lasting margin that lie adjacent to the side-lasted portions thereof and press them against the insole, and poweroperated cutting mechanism including a knife arranged to travel over and clear the portions of the lasting margin so creased and thereafter sever surplus portions of the margin lying on said cutting bed.

WILLIAM THOMAS BUCKINGHAM ROBERTS. 

